Clean Your Clubs: Brush Them Grooves
In another of my roles I get to write about the joys of dentistry. Thinking about it there are parallels between cleaning our teeth and cleaning the grooves on the face of your golf clubs. Most of us have been schooled by our folks on the importance of brushing our teeth at least twice a day – if we want to maintain our ability to chow down on the good stuff for longer. In the same way, any golf pro or teaching instructor will tell you to keep your grooves clean for maximum benefit from your strike. Especially when it comes to your wedges and imparting spin to grab the green upon impact. Clean your clubs: Brush them grooves for best results.
Your Golf Clubs Are Your Tools: Keep Em Clean
Golf is a game that involves the use of some 14 clubs. These clubs are your tools and a good tradie keeps his or her tools in good nick. If you are going to hire someone to build or fix something for you it pays to have a gander at their tools. You are not going to take on someone who uses and abuses their tools. Golfers who never clean their clubs are disconnected from the practicalities of what the game is all about. The once a week players who chuck their stuff in the back and never gives them a moment’s thought until the following week are kidding themselves. These same folk will often berate themselves when shots don’t come off. Seeking perfection and not giving a toss about the state of their gear is just dumb, in this pundit’s view.
Clean Grooves Means Great Contact
Clean your clubs: brush them grooves prior to playing a shot. If you want to climb that handicap ladder by lowering yours it starts with taking care of business. A lot of golf could be described as housework and we all know how many of us feel about that. Golf is a process orientated activity. By that I mean it involves doing stuff in the correct order or sequence. The golf swing is very much about this. So too is everything that accompanies your golf swing. This is why golf has so many rules and guidelines regarding the etiquette of golf. The best golf coaches tell their players that 90% of the golf swing is about the set up. If you get that right, more often, you are going to shoot lower scores. Looking after your equipment during and after your round or preceding your round are important aspects of that process.
“Pre-shot routines are important. They improve the golfer’s concentration by directing their focus to aspects that help them carry out an effective shot, and stop them from dwelling on negative or irrelevant thoughts or distractions from their surroundings. A pre-shot routine can also improve the golfer’s confidence in their abilities, leading to an improvement in performance, as the routine is something that is familiar and allows them to visualise previous successes they have had before.”
Returning to the dental analogy the grooves on the face of your clubs are like your teeth in that they get crap in the gaps. Brushing out that detritus serves the health of your teeth and gums and in the same manner it will greatly help the purity of your strike in golf. Carry one of those nifty little push up brushes in your pocket and make it part of your pre-shot routine to clean the face of your club. It will not only improve your contact it will become another investment in your game. The more we can take the time to prepare for shots the better the outcome in my experience. You want to cover the ball with your swing and at impact. Clean grooves are going to provide what the designer of your golf clubs envisaged that club being able to do. You are the dentist of your game drilling down to find success. Cleaning up on that score card to claim the winner’s podium will make you feel like King S***. In your victory speech you can say, “I want to thank my clean grooves for making this all possible!” Golf is a game for the grounded, for those who don’t mind a little dirt under their fingernails. Part of being grounded is cleaning up after that divot has been taken. Think about it!
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of How To Play Golf: Like A Winner
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